I remember reading this in 2012, right at the beginning of my career, and deciding it was the high watermark. I feel like essays like this were a lot less common back then, especially on a major site. It had a big impact on me.

Felt compelled to write about what malice, block towers, and the parakeets mean ahead of its rerelease. Had to make it into a blog. Hope people still read it. Reading The Boy and The Heron: autumnwright.bearblog.dev/reading-the-...

Good morning! This week's episode @benverschoor.bsky.social and I talk at length about Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein. We get into what it chooses to change from the novel and what its effects are, the many striking images, and the dumb wolves. miseenscreen.libsyn.com/episode-18-g...

2025 to play list: Blue Prince Despelote Consume Me Keep Driving Expelled! The Roottrees Are Dead Seance at Blake Manor Skin Deep Possessor(s) Mafia: The Old Country Anything I'm missing?

Had a really fun interview with Dread Central a few months back that is finally out. Check it out! 🐀 www.dreadcentral.com/news/548442/...

Oh, hey! I'm *writing* again! Let's talk about a man named named Ramza Beoulve. Let's talk about the "ease at which men are branded heretics..." Let's talk about revolution. www.eurogamer.net/the-revoluti...

"We found out later that Keighley had a party in another room with all the influencers and industry people. You know where Future Class met that day? At a Starbucks.”

Dialogue choices

i wrote about silent hill f which is moving & intense, but ultimately set on dispelling “the fog” of its strong points…

Hello. This is probably the best episode of The Safe Room podcast. Give it a listen and tell your pals. Thank you

"How can we build up and out if everyone is laying their blocks separately from each other? How can we hope to learn anything if we refuse to look for what has already been said? Illiterate writers removing and replacing the same base brickwork year after year."

We've added 100 new CDs to our collection of press CDs from GamePro magazine, with thousands of pieces of game art, screenshots, and more So, what's the GamePro press CD collection? We put together an explainer

New on the site, @strida.bsky.social writes about Silent Hill f. bulletpointsmonthly.com/2025/11/10/m...

It's so funny the man who reviewed pop culture in front of a Ready Player One banner image has now directed four good sci fi films (I have not yet seen the predator anthology). Never give up hope!

For months I've been thinking about what precise anxieties and insecurities hide in questions like "how can I write at a time like this?" and tried to untangle them by parsing separate (though interrelated) acts: making, sharing, and selling meantforyou.beehiiv.com/p/deconstruc...

I am quoted in this, but that is not the reason I'm sharing Steven is great at eloquently explaining the core issues of games criticism and, rather than muddle in the dark, he is pushing for us to move forward, to be better writers and critics. And it all starts with reading other ppl's works.

also read steven. doing the work analyzing what is happening to games crit with a method that is not vibes, discourse, or clique based. this one seems relevant today: breakingarrows.substack.com/p/who-is-wri...

I encourage everyone to poke around the document I've been working on attempting to compile and sort a body of links on worthwhile game writing. I'll likely create a thread of some of the most interesting ones I have found, and feel free to share additions to be made! docs.google.com/document/d/1...

A write up on why reading other critics is worthwhile in all instances, with extensive quoting from others works I have read, and publicly sharing the very large games writing resource document I've been slowly accumulating links for these past months (years) open.substack.com/pub/breaking...

my latest is out for skybox!!! 💜 the casting of teruyuki kagawa in yakuza kiwami 3 is not only disgusting in itself, but also ridiculous in its hypocrisy considering rgg's past recasts and the series. i feel, and write, very strongly about it please read, i think this is some of my best work 💜

For our first November article, @lucafisher.bsky.social wrote a personal essay about @sunsetvisitor.studio's 1000xResist, his mother, cycles of abuse and domestic violence, and letting go of emotional baggage.

A write up on why reading other critics is worthwhile in all instances, with extensive quoting from others works I have read, and publicly sharing the very large games writing resource document I've been slowly accumulating links for these past months (years) open.substack.com/pub/breaking...

Janus just dropped a proper trailer for Resurrection, the best thing I saw at the festival and, arguably, this century. I can't wait for others to see it and argue I'm being hyperbolic!

Repromoting the first in my close readings of Dishonored, focusing on the lack of imagination in specific sections of this fictional alternative history. breakingarrows.substack.com/p/dishonored...

This week's episode is Bugonia! But first we talk about my alien invasion pick and @benverschoor.bsky.social's kindred film to the main feature before the usual non-spoiler and spoiler sectioned conversation on Bugonia. miseenscreen.libsyn.com/episode-17-b...

EXCLUSIVE on @gamedeveloper.bsky.social: not only has The Game Awards not nominated a Future Class for 2025, it's told alumni it "does not have any active programming plans" for the award. The Future Class page was taken down sometime this year—eliminating a definitive archive of honorees.

Repromoting the first in my close readings of Dishonored, focusing on the lack of imagination in specific sections of this fictional alternative history. breakingarrows.substack.com/p/dishonored...

This week's episode is Bugonia! But first we talk about my alien invasion pick and @benverschoor.bsky.social's kindred film to the main feature before the usual non-spoiler and spoiler sectioned conversation on Bugonia. miseenscreen.libsyn.com/episode-17-b...

Ghost of Yotei, Assassin's Creed Shadows, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, and Mafia: The Old Country each, to different degrees, complicate our vision of the past.

Musou

We've got: Resurrection Kontinental '25 The Eyes of Ghana Sirāt The Plague Ghost Elephants It Was Just an Accident Arco Train Dreams Late Shift The President's Cake Zodiac Killer Project In Totality How She Was Shallow Conference of the Moths The Lonely Dog Leaving the Light

Red Rooms is a great PSA for changing your routers admin login, and really all your passwords, regularly.

You may have heard of the batshit game Rogue Warrior based on Richard "Demo Dick" Marcinko's fabled life. I took a look at it by reading the autobiography* it is based on and taking a gander at the original version underneath Zombie. youtu.be/OUJ4RItyDcE?...

We've got: Resurrection Kontinental '25 The Eyes of Ghana Sirāt The Plague Ghost Elephants It Was Just an Accident Arco Train Dreams Late Shift The President's Cake Zodiac Killer Project In Totality How She Was Shallow Conference of the Moths The Lonely Dog Leaving the Light

Red Rooms is a great PSA for changing your routers admin login, and really all your passwords, regularly.

On November 17 and 24, @willowcatelyn.bsky.social and I will be on TCM talking about films featured in our book. More details to come.

You may have heard of the batshit game Rogue Warrior based on Richard "Demo Dick" Marcinko's fabled life. I took a look at it by reading the autobiography* it is based on and taking a gander at the original version underneath Zombie. youtu.be/OUJ4RItyDcE?...

Really happy to finally catch up on Red Rooms. Zodiac would have been an obvious companion film to watch in a normal week, what are some others?

The first film @benverschoor.bsky.social got to see was Chinese director Bi Gan's latest which completely blew Ben away: youtu.be/VXOVnS-ClKM?...

Happy Halloween! 🎃 @benverschoor.bsky.social and I talk about Red Rooms on a special episode. miseenscreen.libsyn.com/episode-16-r...

Videogames make killing fun. Killzone 2 makes killing fun. open.substack.com/pub/breaking...

In the second part of my sad girl Halloween duology, I finally sit down to talk about Angela Orosco from Silent Hill 2, what she represents to me, and why I think she's such a powerful character

Videogames make killing fun. Killzone 2 makes killing fun. open.substack.com/pub/breaking...

Happy Halloween! 🎃 @benverschoor.bsky.social and I talk about Red Rooms on a special episode. miseenscreen.libsyn.com/episode-16-r...

If I am going to be writing about criticism, I should be reading the current writing in that field. I anonymized the authors using MGS character names so you can get sentences such as, "Solid Snake describes their displeasure at the lack of freedom..." open.substack.com/pub/breaking...

What was the last piece of information that you received that had you log on like this

Tried to dig into SHf's themes of domesticity and how they relate to these threads throughout the series.